diff --git a/src/include/version.h b/src/include/version.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3eccde3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/include/version.h
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+/* Copyright (c) 2022 Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT */
+
+#define _GNU_SOURCE
+
+#include <string.h>
+#include <stdlib.h>
+#include <errno.h>
+
+#include "common.h"
+
+static inline int
+version_parse(const char *version, int tuple[3])
+{
+	char buf[64];
+
+	if (strlen(version) >= 64) {
+		err("parse_version: version too long: %s\n", version);
+		return -1;
+	}
+
+	strcpy(buf, version);
+
+	char *str = buf;
+	char *which[] = { "major", "minor", "patch" };
+	char *delim[] = { ".", ".", ".-" };
+	char *save = NULL;
+
+	for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
+		char *num = strtok_r(str, delim[i], &save);
+
+		/* Subsequent calls need NULL as string */
+		str = NULL;
+
+		if (num == NULL) {
+			err("parse_version: missing %s number: %s\n",
+					which[i], version);
+			return -1;
+		}
+
+		errno = 0;
+		char *endptr = NULL;
+		int v = (int) strtol(num, &endptr, 10);
+
+		if (errno != 0 || endptr == num || endptr[0] != '\0') {
+			err("parse_version: failed to parse %s number: %s\n",
+					which[i], version);
+			return -1;
+		}
+
+		if (v < 0) {
+			err("parse_version: invalid negative %s number: %s\n",
+					which[i], version);
+			return -1;
+		}
+
+		tuple[i] = v;
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/src/rt/ovni.c b/src/rt/ovni.c
index 4de2a2c..6bf4ed8 100644
--- a/src/rt/ovni.c
+++ b/src/rt/ovni.c
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 #include "compat.h"
 #include "ovni.h"
 #include "parson.h"
+#include "version.h"
 
 /* Data per process */
 struct ovni_rproc rproc = {0};
@@ -24,57 +25,6 @@ struct ovni_rproc rproc = {0};
 /* Data per thread */
 _Thread_local struct ovni_rthread rthread = {0};
 
-static int
-parse_version(const char *version, int tuple[3])
-{
-	char buf[64];
-
-	if (strlen(version) >= 64) {
-		err("parse_version: version too long: %s\n", version);
-		return -1;
-	}
-
-	strcpy(buf, version);
-
-	char *str = buf;
-	char *which[] = { "major", "minor", "patch" };
-	char *delim[] = { ".", ".", ".-" };
-	char *save = NULL;
-
-	for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
-		char *num = strtok_r(str, delim[i], &save);
-
-		/* Subsequent calls need NULL as string */
-		str = NULL;
-
-		if (num == NULL) {
-			err("parse_version: missing %s number: %s\n",
-					which[i], version);
-			return -1;
-		}
-
-		errno = 0;
-		char *endptr = NULL;
-		int v = (int) strtol(num, &endptr, 10);
-
-		if (errno != 0 || endptr == num || endptr[0] != '\0') {
-			err("parse_version: failed to parse %s number: %s\n",
-					which[i], version);
-			return -1;
-		}
-
-		if (v < 0) {
-			err("parse_version: invalid negative %s number: %s\n",
-					which[i], version);
-			return -1;
-		}
-
-		tuple[i] = v;
-	}
-
-	return 0;
-}
-
 void ovni_version_check_str(const char *version)
 {
 	if (version == NULL)
@@ -83,10 +33,10 @@ void ovni_version_check_str(const char *version)
 	int provided[3];
 	int expected[3];
 
-	if (parse_version(version, provided) != 0)
+	if (version_parse(version, provided) != 0)
 		die("failed to parse provided version \"%s\"\n", version);
 
-	if (parse_version(OVNI_LIB_VERSION, expected) != 0)
+	if (version_parse(OVNI_LIB_VERSION, expected) != 0)
 		die("failed to parse expected version \"%s\"\n", OVNI_LIB_VERSION);
 
 	/* Match the major */
diff --git a/test/unit/CMakeLists.txt b/test/unit/CMakeLists.txt
index acffe39..b6575cc 100644
--- a/test/unit/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/test/unit/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 # Copyright (c) 2022 Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC)
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
 
-# Example: unit_test(abc.c)
+unit_test(version.c)
diff --git a/test/unit/version.c b/test/unit/version.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..105c24e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/version.c
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+#include "version.h"
+
+struct testcase {
+	int rc;
+	char *version;
+	int tuple[3];
+};
+
+int main(void)
+{
+	struct testcase cases[] = {
+		/* Good */
+		{ 0, "0.0.0", 		{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+		{ 0, "1.0.0", 		{ 1, 0, 0 } },
+		{ 0, "0.1.0", 		{ 0, 1, 0 } },
+		{ 0, "0.0.1", 		{ 0, 0, 1 } },
+		{ 0, "1.2.3-rc1", 	{ 1, 2, 3 } },
+		/* Bad */
+		{ -1, "-1.0.0",		{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+		{ -1, "1.2", 		{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+		{ -1, "1",		{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+		{ -1, "1.O.O",		{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+		{ -1, "1.2.3rc",	{ 0, 0, 0 } },
+	};
+
+	int n = sizeof(cases) / sizeof(cases[0]);
+
+	for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+		struct testcase *c = &cases[i];
+		int tuple[3] = { 0 };
+
+		if (version_parse(c->version, tuple) != c->rc)
+			die("wrong return value\n");
+
+		if (c->rc != 0)
+			continue;
+
+		for (int j = 0; j < 3; j++) {
+			if (tuple[j] != c->tuple[j])
+				die("wrong parsed version\n");
+		}
+	}
+
+	return 0;
+}